“would you looka here readjack..Game 7, and the Bigs for the #Lakers had to come to the rescue once again…hmmmm”

That tweet came from my pal Shaun Davis as part of an ongoing discussion between the two of us concerning Kobe, LeBron, and the definition of hoops greatness. Mr. Davis was referring to Kobe Bryant’s 17-point Game 7 performance against the Denver Nuggets Saturday night, a truly poor showing for one of the League’s all-time greats, especially when you consider that Kevin Garnett — with one more NBA season to his name (and his legs) — posted a 28-14 with 5 blocks to close out Atlanta two nights before.

Shaun’s tweet got me thinking about Kobe, LeBron, and the gold standard Mr. Jordan, and put me in a mood for some statistical research concerning the low scoring playoff games of the League’s premier star and his two high profile successors. The sample section is every postseason game (through the first round of this year’s playoffs) in which the player in question played at least 30 minutes.

I’m going to leave the conclusions to you, the reader, and simply provide the findings. All stats are from Basketball Reference. Hit the game finder for your own discoveries.

— JACK

*** UPDATED 21 MAY 2014 ***

I am updating this post today, in the middle of the playoffs, because why not? Also, to spice things up, I am adding Kevin Durant along with three categories. I will update again after the Finals.

*** UPDATED 29 MAY 2014 ***

LeBron set his new playoff scoring low last night with 7 points in Miami’s 93-90 loss. However, he only played 24 minutes, which is why I am leaving him off this list. Here is the box score.

*** UPDATED 2 JUNE 2016 ***

Amazing how quickly the NBA has changed. When I last updated this post, Steph Curry was a new All-Star scoring 24 points per game. Now he’s the two-time defending MVP and a member of the 30 ppg club. As such, we need to get him in here. Updated through Game 1 of the 2016 Finals.

*** UPDATED 21 MAY 2017 ***

LeBron threw up an 11-pointer tonight in Game 3 of the East Finals vs. Boston. Time to update.

And of course, KD and Steph are now teammates. I’ll update again after the Finals.

Okay, let’s get to it.

PLAYOFF GAMES UNDER 20 POINTS, 30 MINUTES PLAYED

JORDAN: 6 out of 178, 3.37%

BRYANT: 32 out of 198, 16.16% (original post: 31 out of 193, 16.06%)

JAMES: 23 out of 210, 10.95% (2014 post: 19 out of 149, 12.75%) (original post: 13 out of 97, 13.40%)